NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE- CROSS COUNTRY SKI RACER

Monday, September 19, 2011

Try-a-tri

...And that's not just me being clever with the title, it was the actual name of the event I raced in Parry Sound at the very end of August. My brother and I both competed in the Bobby Ore Parry Sound Triathlon, however Matt stepped up to do the FULL triathlon for the second time this summer. Me?..well I just wanted a little sample of the distances seeing as I'm not the floating type which means I'm not the swimming type. A little 350m swim was perfect for me! I'm still not a fan of the goggle-swimcap look on myself and avoided putting them on as long as possible seeing as my Mom is always everywhere with the camera. We had the best cheering squad out there, my Mom, Dad, Grandma, Aunt Sue, and Danielle came out to cheer us on! Check out this video Matt made of the event....

Note: Don't try to put on your shirt AFTER you put on your helmet. It won't work out.


The Tribe's go a Tri-ing!! from Matt Tribe on Vimeo.


It was a wonderful weekend stop at my Aunt Sue's cottage just outside Parry Sound before heading to the Barrie, ON area for the Southern Ontario Training Camp that we participated in. The weather was glorious and Matt and I took advantage of it and had some fun "dock diving." It wouldn't have worked out so well if it weren't for Matt's girlfriend, Danielle, being an ace with the camera! Thanks!

Tandem backwards jumping. It took me a little while to be convinced that it wouldn't hurt when I hit the water. Hence the face!


A few years of diving lessons when I was younger are now coming in handy! I Be Super Woman.



I love summer!

It's always fun to compete in different sports other than skiing to see how my athletic abilities can be tested and transferred. I don't think I'll be switching sports anytime soon but I can see myself trying a triathlon again.

Later!
Erin

Monday, September 12, 2011

Wowwweeee….. a whole summer has flown by and all of a sudden it’s September. I’m not sure about the rest of the world, but as soon as September 1st hits Thunder Bay it seems to think summer is over and I wake up feeling like the heat needs to be turned on in my house. Luckily our friend, Mr. Sun, is still warm when he’s around but I've already experienced that first rollerski in the rain and cold. I compromised with ¾ length tights since I’m not ready to commit to full-length tights and a jacket for training… not yet.
It’s been a wonderful summer. Not just the weather, but the training, travel and opportunity to catch up with friends and family along the way. We completed a number of training camps, all with different focuses and training benefits. I feel that this summer had a bit of a different flavor to it. It’s hard to pin-point exactly what that means, but I think it’s because I got the chance to see my family (in and out of town) a lot more. I also worked on average 4 days a week this summer, which kept me busy and I still found time to gather some sort of tan on my Grandparent’s dock at Trout Lake on afternoons and rest days. Maybe, just maybe, my more favorable time management skills are coming back from the days I was in school full time – yes Mom, your dreams can come true! Either way, heading into my 3rd season with NDC I think Thunder Bay is feeling like home as it did once upon a time 10 years ago. That’s not to say I can’t wait to visit home in October, even if it’s only going to be for 2 days.
Since it really has been 4 months since I’ve said hello (- er, yah I still procrastinate sometimes haha) I thought I’d throw in a TON of pictures to help explain my fab summer. We hung out in Thunder Bay, what felt like more than usual, but I think that can be contributed to the timing of our Canmore, AB and Southern Ontario training camps that made this home base actually feel like home this summer. We literally squeezed the summer calendar to August 31st with travel and then ran this last training block through to Sunday, Sept 4th. And now our schedules begin to change a bit… school… YES SCHOOL!... continuing to work, and then I’m off on a plane again. More on that later. Now to the good stuff…
The real reason I’ve been putting off updating my blog is because … DUN-DU-DUHHHHH…. A VIDEO. I purchased a small, handheld, pocket-size, no fuss 3-button Flip HD video camera in an attempt to give everyone a better insight to our training camps. And I’ve been really impressed with the picture quality and simplicity of it. Works for me! And although there isn’t any actual skiing in the video, which I still find weird, it’s a good look at one of our biggest training weeks of the year and where we spend it. On a rock. Literally. So here is the big debut… (I’m still getting the hang of this editing thing but a HUGE thanks to my Brother Bear and his patience in teaching me what imovie has to offer).


More Pictures for yer' there liking:


I went in a mountain bike race at my home club Hardwood Ski and Bike in the spring when I was home. I hadn't raced on a bike in well over a year but it went pretty well! Other than this picture of me taking a detour back to the course when I made a wrong turn. Oops!


My brother also raced, killed it, of course. Here we are in his element... he's the big time rider in the fam. Oh, did I mention he's going to be a chiropractor? That's my big bro!



My Mom and I out the day before I decided to do the race. This was the first ride of the year... the race was the second.


In July my parents came to Thunder Bay for a visit and my Mom and I went to Centennial Park for some exercise. The tractors at Centennial are from the company my Grandpa used to run in town a long time ago. I didn't actually know this until this trip with my Mom.



Mixed in here: Our recent trip to the Haig Glacier where we had CSC physiologist Rob Rupf come up with us to do all of our monitoring throughout the week. He ran a bunch of tests throughout the week in the mornings, extended blood analysis, lactates while skiing, and the list goes on! It was great to have him as part of our team.


SunRISE... yes rise... the joys of early morning washroom breaks on the Haig Glacier.



Back to boot camp: Staying bright and alive.

LSSD camp held by Ontario and Big Thunder Nordic. Our team did an outreach week at this camp and trained along side 60 or so enthused athletes from across Ontario. Here the girls are getting a skate rollerski technique session.



The full team at boot camp!

That's all for now! I've got more coming in the next few days so check back!

Erin
.... .... .... .... NOW IS THE TIME TO BE FULL OF COURAGE